International PhD course:
Run by Mats Alvesson and Dan Kärreman, University of
Lund, Sweden.
Critical management studies (7.5 credits)
Many researchers in management and organization
studies hold the assumption that companies and other
organizations are institutions working for the common
good, that the outputs are making things better for
customers, employees, owners and the general public.
Organizational structures and practices are understood
as functional for the accomplishment of organizational
objectives, which then serve various stakeholders.
Typically, organizational and institutional
arrangements are viewed as fair and/or unproblematic.
In contrast, critical management studies problematize
the status quo. It focuses on the darker side of
business and organizations, or what Gareth Morgan in
Images of Organizations called the ugly face. The
word critical has, of course, a number of meanings.
All research is critical in the sense that the
researcher is observant and intolerant of weak
argumentation, speculative statements, erroneous
conclusions etc. In critical management studies,
critical is understood as the stimulation of a more
extensive reflection upon established ideas,
ideologies and institutions in order to liberate from
or at least reduce repression, self-constraints or
suffering. Critical research aims to stand on the
weaker parts side when studying or commenting upon
relations of dominance. Critical theory is referred to
as a tradition of social science, including the
Frankfurt School and related authors and lines of
thought such as Foucault, critical poststructuralism,
certain versions of feminism and so on. Critical
management studies is a large and expanding research
orientation, prominent in organization studies but
also to some extent in accounting, marketing and
strategy.
The PhD course aims to give an advanced introduction
to the theoretical frameworks, research interests and
methodologies in Critical management studies,
especially in organization studies but to some extent
also in other subdisciplines of management. The course
will also give examples of critical studies and show
how critical research can be produced. Participants
will have an opportunity to discuss their own PhD
projects.
Content:
Critical theory
Poststructuralism
Foucault
Feminism
Critical organization studies
Critical marketing studies
Critical accounting studies
Critical management research methods
Applications
Teaching
The course will include 30 hours of teaching, lectures
and seminars.
Examination
Written exam paper
Literature
Alvesson & Deetz: Doing Critical Management Research.
Sage 2000 (some chapters)
Alvesson & Willmott (eds) Studying Management
Critically. Sage 2003
Grey & Willmott (eds): Critical Management Studies.
Oxford University Press 2005
Selection of papers
Teachers
Responsible for the course will be Mats Alvesson and
Dan Kärreman, Lund University. Lectures and seminars
will be given by Chris Grey, André Spicer, Hugh
Willmott and others.
Schedule
The course will be given in a concentrated format, 9
13, April 2007.
Course fee
The course fee is 300 euro.
Practicalites
Lund is located in Southern Sweden, 1 hour train ride
from Copenhagen. There is a direct Ryanair flight from
Stanstead to Lund/Malmo. We will assist in finding
cheap accommodation.
Application
Application with a short bio and motivation of
interest for the course should be sent to
Susanne.Lundholm@fek.lu.se by March 15th. We can give
earlier notication of acceptance if needed.
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